A shift in perspective can change what you see

A wise old man sat just outside a city when a traveler approached him. “What kind of people live in this city?” the traveler asked. The wise man answered with a question of his own. “What were the people like in the town you just left?”

The traveler scowled. “They were terrible -- mean, lazy, and completely unhelpful. That’s why I left.” The wise man nodded. “I’m sorry to tell you, but you’ll find much the same kind of people here.” Disappointed, the traveler sighed and continued toward the city.

How could the wise man possibly know?

Before we continue: I'm trying something new this week. At the end of today's Spiritual Sparks, you'll find a brief video from me. If we've never had the opportunity to meet, this may be our first chance to do so!

✨3 Ideas

1. The gift of a borrowed lens

We see the world from where we stand. But one vantage point can’t show us everything. Classic wisdom teaches that just as people’s faces differ, so too do their opinions.

Another person may see something that is invisible from our own position. Borrowing another person’s lens doesn’t mean surrendering our own perspective or judgment.

Seeing through another person’s eyes doesn’t require closing our own. Even when another view doesn’t change our mind, learning to see beyond ourselves can expand our understanding -- and refine the soul.

2. When the lens gets clouded

Few of us look through perfectly neutral eyes. Our expectations, past experiences, and assumptions can quietly color what we see.

What needs changing isn’t what we’re looking at, but what we’re looking through. 

An old story tells of a man who repeatedly complained that his neighbor’s laundry looked dirty. One morning, it suddenly appeared spotless. “I got up early and cleaned our windows,” his wife explained.

3. Polishing the inner lens

We carry a picture of who we are, often formed long ago. Sometimes others recognize qualities and possibilities in us that we can’t see. Their eyes may perceive courage, kindness, or strength obscured by an outdated image of who we think we are.

At times the person we most need to learn to see with new eyes is ourselves.

Polishing the inner lens is about seeing ourselves more truthfully -- and recognizing more clearly the beauty, potential, and grandeur of the soul within.

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📜2 Quotes

“Uncover my eyes and I shall look at hidden things…”
— Psalms 119:18

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
— Henry David Thoreau

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❓1 Question

What quality might others see in you that you have difficulty seeing in yourself?

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Later, another traveler asked the wise man the same question. But this traveler described the people he had left behind as kind, generous, and helpful. “You’ll find much the same kind of people here,” the wise man told him.

How could he know? He understood that what we see is shaped, in part, by the lens we’re looking through.

Sometimes a different perspective helps us see another person or the world more clearly. And sometimes, it allows us to discover something beautiful in our soul that was there all along.

Until next time,
Wishing you a week of seeing the good in others -- and in yourself,

Rabbi Ze'ev Smason

P.S. Has a friend or relative ever helped you see a strength or good quality in yourself that you hadn’t seen before? I’d love to hear that story if you care to share it.

P.P.S. As promised, here’s something new -- a brief video from me. I wrote Spiritual Sparks: A Reader for others, but also for myself. This is a 50-second thought about one of its lessons: forgiveness. Watch the video